Air rifle



1931- F. MIHALYI AIR RIFLE Filed July 14, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet E Q M F7 7- GENE) Dec. 29, 1931. F. MIHALYI AIR RIFLE Filed July 14, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Q n r a M/ l... .w R

1Q TTOPNEV some spon ing to Figu Patented n... 29, 1931 I UNITED STATES PATENT-ounce FRANK MIEALYI, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO BENJAMIN AIR RIFLE COM- PANY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, A. CORPORATION OF MISSOURI Am RIFLE Application filed. July 14,

My invention relates to air guns and consists in novel construction of the bullet feedin and discharge mechanism.

The main object of my invention is to provide an automatic repeating air gun in which the repeated movement of the trigger is the only manual operation required for discharging a series of bullets.

An additional object of my invention 1s to provide novel means for retaining the bullet, which is to be discharged, in the discharge barrel of the gun until the gun is fired.

Another object of my invention is to provide novel structure for adjusting the charge of air to be applied to each bullet.

Other more detailed objects of my invention are referred to hereafter and all of the objects mentioned are attained in the structure described herein and-illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a top view of my gun.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the same with parts sectioned for more clear illustration. 1

Figure 3 is an enlarged longitudinal section through the mechanism taken on line 3-3 oi Figure 1.

Figures 4 and 5 are vertical transverse sections taken on lines 4-4 and 55, respectively, of Figure 3.

Fi res 6 and 7 are detail sections correre 3, but showing the parts in diflerent positions.

Figure 8 is a horizontal section taken on line 88 of Figure 2.

Figures 9 and 10 are enlarged detail sec tions corresponding to Figure 8.

4 Figure 11 is an enlarged side elevation of a detail of the gun structure.

The gun stock 1 mounts the un body 2 which is of tubular shape and tie forward portion 3 of which forms a cylinder in which the compression piston 4 operates. The rear portion of the body constitutes a chamber 5,

for compressed air, and a housing 6 for the trigger and release valve mechanism. Adjacent to the body 2 are the magazine and discharge barrels 7 and 8, respectively. The magazine barrel 7 is provided with an opening 9 through which bullets may be supplied 1928. Serial No. 292,699.

to the barrel. A plunger 10 is slidably mounted in barrel 7 and a long coil spring 11 moves plunger 10 to the inner end of the barrel. The end of plunger 10 is provided with a flexible coil 12 having a cap 13 for engagingthe rear bullet 14. A screw 15 on stem 10 slides in a groove 16in the side of barrel 7 and the end of grooves 16 nearest the front end of the barrel has a lateral offset 18 in which screw 15 may be thrust to hold the plunger 10 in retracted position while the magazine barrel is being filled with bullets.

The inner end of barrel 7 terminates in an inclined passage 19 leading into the discharge barrel 8 and the latter barrel is provided with an annular seat 20 for the bullet 21 which is to be discharged. Se?i-t-20 is adjacent to the innermost element of passage 19 and is so positioned relative to the passage that the bullet 22, which has not yet been ejected from the magazine barrel, slightly overlaps bullet 21 and retains the latter I against accidental movement from its seat and from barrel 8. In Figure 9 this overlapping is considerably exaggerated for clearer illustration.

When the gun is discharged by the admission of compressed air to barrel 8 through the passage-way 23, bullet 21 will move bullet 22 and all of the other bullets in the magazine barrel rearwardly sufiicientito permit the passage of bullet 21 past bullet 22. This movement will be permitted by the compression of spring 11. Immediately upon the discharge of bullet 21, spring 11 will advance the bullets in the magazine barrel so as to eject bullet 22 into the discharge barrel 8 where it will assume the position of bullet 21. This feeding of another bullet to the discharge barrel is entirely automatic and does not depend upon the manual operation of a shuttle valve or other structure by the user.

The coil 12 on the endof the plunger 10 will follow the angular turn at the end of the magazine chamber thereby permitting the last bullet to be fed into the discharge chamber at which time the contour of cap 13 enables the latter to retain the last bullet on seat 20 and to permit the discharge of this bullet in the same manner as the bullet 22 is shown as functioning in Figure 9.

The air is pumped into the compressed air chamber 5 by piston 4 in any well known manner, but I believe the manner of discharging the compressed air from the chamber 5 is novel. The outlet to passage-way 23 is controlled by a valve 24 which slides in guides 25 and is thrust against its seat 26 by the coil spring 27. The firing pin 28 practically constitutes a stem for the valve and projects through the seat to the exterior of chamber 5 and afiords means by which the valve may be raised from its seat to permit the passage of compressed air through the passage-way 23 to the discharge valve.

A cam element 29 has a pin and slot mounting on a breech block 37 and a spring 30 thrusts the element downwardly into the normal position shown in Figure 3. A trigger member 31 is pivoted on the breech block at 32 and has a forwardly extendin finger 33 engaging the lower lip 34 on cam element 29. A coil spring 35 thrusts trigger member 31 into the normal position shown in Figure 3.

Retraction of the trigger from the posi tion shown in Figure 3 will cause the finger 33 to move forwardly and downwardly as shown in Figure 6 in which cam element 29 is raised with its cam surface engaging pin 28 and moving valve 24 forwardly momentarily to permit the passage of air through the valve opening.

The contours of the end of finger 33 and the cooperating end of the cam lip 34 are such that the firing position indicated in Figure 6 is an unstable one and cam lip 34 will slide ofi the end of trigger finger 33 and spring 27 returns valve 24 to its seat so quickly that only a comparatively small amount of the air in chamber 5 is released.

Upon release of the finger engaging portion of trigger 31, spring 35 thrusts the corresponding lug 36 downwardly, whereupon finger 33 moves upwardly and cam 29 moves rearwardly, due to its pin and slot mounting, until finger 33 passes beyond the end of cam lip 34 when spring 30 will move the latter down to its original normal position slightly clearing pin 28 but ready to engage the latter as soon as the trigger is operated.

Breech block 37 is slidably mounted in housing 6 and a nut 37a is threaded into the outer end of the housing and may be rotated to adjust the position of breech block 37 longitudinally of the housing. Since the breech block mounts the cam element 29 and trigger member 31 and since the seat 26 for valve 24 is fixed, adjustment of block 37 will determine the movement of firin pin 28 and valve 24 and hence determine the amount of air which will be discharged each time the trigger is operated. By this mechanism, it is possible to empty the chamber 5 ofcompressed air in four or five operations of the trigger or to so limit the discharge position of valve 24 that thirty or forty trigger operations will be required to empty the chamber of compressed air. A screw 37b serves to lock nut 37a in adjusted position and also to assemble the cap 370 with the rear end of housing 6.

From the above description, it will be seen that I have produced an automatic repeating air rifle in which the repeated pulling of the trigger will discharge successive bullets one 7 afterthe other as long as any bullets remain in the magazine barrel or any air under compression remains in the chamber 5. Each operation of the valve 24 is positive and definite in extent, and is not affected by the quality of pressure upon the trigger or upon the pressure in chamber 5.

Additional means for preventin the accidental loss of bullet 21 is illustrate and com prises a member 38 having a plurality of tongues 39 extending into the discharge barrel 8 and yieldingly engaging the forward portion of bullet 21. This engagement will not be sufiicient to prevent the passage of bullet 21 as soon as a discharge blast of compressed air has been applied to the bullet.

It is obvious that a structure comprisin a number of parts, as described above, inclu es many details which may be varied without substantial departure from the principles involved. I contemplate the exclusive use of such modifications as come within the scope of my claims irrespective of whether or not the details described are duplicated.

I claim: 1

1. In an automatic repeating air rifle, a discharge barrel, a magazine barrel leading thereto, a chamber for compressed air, a spring pressed plunger in said magazine barrel for ejecting bullets into said discharge barrel, a bullet seat in said discharge barrel for positioning a bullet therein to restrain the entrance of a bullet from said magazine barrel, a spring seated valve in said chamber controlling the passage of air to said discharge barrel, and trigger mechanism adapted to open said valve only momentarily irrespective of manual hold on the trigger.

- 2. In an automatic repeating air rifle, a' discharge barrel, a ma azine barrel leading thereto, a chamber or compressed air, -a spring pressed plunger in said magazine barrel for ejecting bullets into said discharge barrel, a bullet seat in said discharge barrel for positioning a bullet therein to restrain the entrance of a bullet from said magazine barrel, a spring seated valve in said chamber controlling the passage of air to said discharge barrel, a trigger, trigger operated mechanism for momentarily opening said valve, and means for automatically returning said mechanism to normal position independently of manual control of said trigger.

3. In an air 11, a chamber for compressed air, a bullet discharge barrel, a passage be- 130 Ill tween said chamber and barrel, a valve for said passage, a spring thrusting said valve against its seat, a cam device having an unstable position in which it raises said valve from its seat, and a trigger for moving said cam to said position without maintaining it therein.

4. In an air gun, a chamber for compressed air, a discharge barrel, an outlet from said chamber to said barrel, a spring pressed valve closing said outlet, a cam device for momentarily opening said valve, a trigger for operating said device, and means for automaticaL ly returning said trigger to normal position, said device including a cam member pivotally and slidably mounted on the gun body and means for returning said member to normal position independently of said trigger.

5. In an air gun, a chamber for compressed air, a valve therefor, a valve release mechanism comprising an element having an elongated slot and a cam surface engaging the valve stem, a stationary pivot pin extending through said slot, a spring thrusting said element into normal position, a trigger member operatively engaging said element to .move its cam surface along the valve stem and then to disengage therefrom, and a spring thrusting said trigger member back cto normal position against the thrust of said element spring.

6. In an air gun, a chamber for compressed air, a valve seat at one end of said chamber, a valve having a stem projectin through said seat to the exterior of said 0 amber, a breech block adjustable relatively to said valve stem, a cam element pivoted on said breech block and engaging the outer end of said stem, and a trigger member for operatin said cam element.

3. In an air gun, a chamber for compr ed air, a valve seat at one end of said chain er, a valve having a stem projectin through said seat to the exterior of said 0 amber, a breech block adjustable relatively to said spring pressed plunger in said magazine barrel for e'ecting bullets into said discharge barrel, a ullet seat in said discharge barrel for positioning a bullet therein to restrain the entrance of a bullet from said magazine barrel, a spring seated valve in said chamber controlling the passage of air to said discharge barrel, and trigger mechanism adapted to positively open said valve only momentarily irrespective of manual hold on the trigger.

10. In an air gun, a discharge barrel, a magazine having an opening into said barrel, an annular bullet seat Within said barrel and positioned rearwardly of said opening, said magazine being adapted to discharge a bullet through said opening and against said seat, and elements projecting forwardly from said seat and adapted to yieldin ly grip said bullet and to cooperate with said seat to maintain said bullet in the firing position against said seat.

In testimony whereof I hereunto ailix my signature this 10th day of July, 1928.

. FRANK MIHALYI.

valve stem, a cam element pivoted on said breech block and engaging the'outer end of said stem, and a trigger member pivoted on said breech block for operating said cam element.

8. In an air gun, a chamber for compressed air, a valve seat at one end of said chamber;i

- a valve having a stem rojecting through sai seat to the exterior 0 said chamber, a breech block adjustable relatively to said valve stem, a cam element pivoted on said breech block and engagin the outer end of said stem, a. trigger mem r pivoted on said breech block for operating said cam element, and means in said breech block for automatically returning said element and member to their normal positions.

9. In an automatic repeating air rifle, a discharge barrel, a magazine barrel leading thereto, a, chamber for compressed air, a 

